Sully

It's a cold morning on Jan 15, 2009. Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and his first officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) survive bird strikes and the lost of both engines to safely land the US Airways Flight 1549 in the middle of the Hudson River. All 155 aboard are rescued. Despite being almost universally herald as a hero, the NTSB investigation starts raising questions and Sully is haunted by the incident.

Hanks is Sully. He embodies the easy natural goodness the role entails. The recreation of the incident is compelling. Eastwood should be more careful about doing the incident twice. The second time needs to be sufficiently different from the first. Then there is the clunky NTSB villainy. The flawed computer simulations need to be expanded. Otherwise, it's hard to buy the dangers to Sully. I wonder if a straight docu-style recreation would be more compelling.

"Everything is unprecedented until it happens for the first time." Sully (Tom Hanks)

On January 15, 2009, a decidedly un-cinematic hero, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger of US Airways, landed 155 souls into the Hudson River, safely, as he struggled with a plane crippled by birds in both engines. As we all know, the passengers and crew survived, so what does director Clint Eastwood bring to the big screen that could engage an audience knowing the blessed outcome?

First, he brings Tom Hanks, not unknown to portray low-key heroes (see Bridge of Spies and Captain Phillips most recently), whose understated courage seems accurately to reflect the Sully we have come to know and see displayed with the credits. Second, Eastwood crafts one of the most believable crash and rescue scenes I have ever encountered.

As in the authentic Hanks interpretation of the quiet Sully, the disaster is compelling and understated. No swelling or morbid music takes away from the terror. Because the simulations at the National Transportation Safety Board hearings were necessary to prove fault, the contrast between the NTSB creations and Eastwood's rendition of the real incident is starkly evocative of the film's attempt to get it all right.

Even the NTSB's grilling Sully at the hearings, while it unsettlingly tracks his alleged errors in the "Miracle on the Hudson," has a low-profile approach. It confirms Eastwood's and writer Todd Komarnicki's affirmation that everyone in the film is doing his and her job, from pilots, investigators, and rescuers to director and writer.

Even Sully's wife, Lorraine (Laura Linney), in the ever-annoying wife-in-waiting-role, is stronger and more balanced than the stock character. Although the passengers are not always first-rate actors, they do seem sincere. However, it is Hanks's film with his stolid, no frills acting, followed by a supportive Aaron Eckhart as his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles.

But then, that powerful under-acting is emblematic of the director himself, a lean craftsman who wastes no time in production and has no time for puffery. Although not Unforgiven, Sully is one of Eastwood's best and one of the best films of the year.

After seeing this film, you may have a heightened respect even for flight attendants, who evidence a more sincere bravery than summer blockbuster heroes could ever do as that crew directs the passengers: "Brace. Brace. Brace. Head down, stay down!" If you see Sully in IMAX, your head will be up in the clouds and your heart too.

The movie is enjoyable to watch and gives a good impression of what must go on inside the mind of a pilot after such a spectacular accident. The depiction of the actual ditching (landing in the water) and the conversation between the pilots and controllers is quite accurate, and with CGI, quite believable.

However, the depiction of the investigative process, including the behavior of the investigators, is not realistic at all. I have worked as a professional pilot and air accident investigator for most of my life, and the investigation as depicted in this film is pure fiction.

In several interviews with the director, Clint Eastwood, he admitted that the movie needed a villain or antagonist, so he chose to depict the investigators and the investigative process as much more hostile than it really is.

What makes Sully exceptional is that Clint Eastwood lets the story tell itself.

Specifically real with the water landing itself. Nothing is really taken out of content in the way Hollywood thinks and usually takes it.

The event was dramatic enough without anything needed to be added to enhance that.

Tom Hanks is a fine actor. Not the greatest performance, but it was cool that Hanks and Eastwood did a movie together.

Sully gives us an in depth look at the miracle of the Hudson. Though the title does state that the we focus on Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger who did an amazing water landing on the Hudson in January of 2009, and got his 15 mins because of it, Eastwood shows us that even one man can see things in many different ways, as Eastwood goes through all those angles.

I love Aaron Eckhart as Jeff Skiles, the co pilot who supported greatly the pilots decision. He was a great supporting actor for Tom Hanks.

In the end this movie is about heroes, not just Sully but everyone involved in the US Airways Flight 1549 water landing. From the well trained flight attendances to the rescue police on the water fairy. Its about the 155 passengers and the their accounts of what happen. It's about how sometimes we forget how to treat a hero, but true heroes will always shine though, and Eastwood tells the story as real as possible knowing that he has an incredible story here.

On January 15th 2009, after a bird strike with the loss of two turbines, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) land an Airbus A320 with 155 passengers on the Hudson River saving their lives. Sully is claimed a hero by the press and public; however the official investigation reports that one of the left engines was running at idle and not damaged. And the flight simulator indicates that it would be possible to land at LaGuardia or Teterboro. Sully has to defend himself to the commission; otherwise Sully has to defend his reputation and career showing new evidences of the incident. Will he succeed?

"Sully" is another great film directed by Clint Eastwood with Tom Hanks in the lead role. These two names would be enough to show the quality of this movie. But the story is excellent, based on the biography of Sully and the screenplay keeps the attention of the viewer until the credits. In addition, there are Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney in a support role. In the end, "Sully" is a great tribute to the hero of the Hudson River. Mt vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sully: O Herói do Rio Hudson" ("Sully: the Hero of the Hudson River")